I will be the first to admit that 2010 was very overwhelming. I worked my butt off doing projects, being a consistent blogger, and building relationships. I wasn’t one of those bloggers who became ginormous overnight. Although I wish I was, I felt like I had to work for each follower.

Unfortunately, it came at a cost. My husband and I had about four tough conversations that year where he had to confront me about how much time I was spending online. What was worse was that when I was spending time with my family I was not fully engaged because I was thinking through my next project, my next post, my latest tweet, etc. Any possible free moment was spent working on my blog. And I loved it. I know there were definitely times that the kudos I got on my blog substituted for any I needed elsewhere, which is not the way God intended it to work!

The hard part for my husband was that I was spending an insane amount of time on my blog and making about $.22 an hour at the cost of our family. The money I was making was also very sporadic. One month I would make $500, the next month I would make $50. The time spent on my blog did not justify the hours I put into it. However, in my mind I knew I was building a small business and most small businesses do not profit for the first 2 years, right? But the struggle with my husband was this: “either be a small business and work, or be a stay-at-home mom.” I was trying to juggle both and I was failing miserably.

Now, let me say this…all along my husband has encouraged me and has tried to support me 100%. He loves that I am creative and that I am doing what I love to do. We, as a couple, just needed to figure out how to make it work within the context of our family.

Finally in the Summer of 2010 I figured a few things out…namely got into a great ad network and some affiliate programs which started bringing in a good amount of income. I was now receiving a decent part-time income. So I decided to become a working mom. In October we made the decision that I would work from 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m. everyday. Best decision ever! So that means my kids are gone during that time. I currently have them enrolled at a part-time pre-school program at our church. So now I know I have that uninterrupted time to focus on blogging. Therefore, I don’t feel the need to work on it at night when I should be focused on my family. I also made the decision that I would not turn on my computer from 5:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. everyday.

Photo Credit :The Sydney Morning Herald

So I told you in a previous post that my mantra for 2010 was “together.” Well my mantra for 2011 is “balance.” I am continuing to work hard to balance all I do making sure my faith and my family far outweigh any time and effort I put into my blog. But it is easier said than done. It is a constant struggle and work in progress.

Oh but I forgot the best part…the “together” piece of 2010 and who I linked arms with…

Related

Footer #2 Widget

This is an example of a widgeted area that you can place text to describe a particular product or service. You can also use other WordPress widgets such as recent posts, recent comments, a tag cloud or more.

Footer #3 Widget

This is an example of a widgeted area that you can place text to describe a particular product or service. You can also use other WordPress widgets such as recent posts, recent comments, a tag cloud or more.